Dire Aquatic Form

...this is your wake-up call.

So, the other night, I mentioned we ran Auchenai Crypts, our little levelling/instance group. Everything went pretty smooth, until we hit the first boss. Then it was reality check time. See, most of the stuff we've done instance-wise, we've been over-level, sometimes severely so. Going along, I had an idea that at some point, we would hit a wall, and get a nasty surprise regarding our sometimes non-existent tactics. Ramparts wasn't it, Blood Furnace wasn't it, Old Hillsbrad wasn't it. Shirrak the Dead Watcher was.

We wiped on him, no joke, a minimum of five times. We couldn't dps him down fast enough, and we couldn't avoid the bombs well enough. I would call out on IGC who the bomb was on, and a few seconds later, I'd see their, and sometimes several other people's health drop like a rock. Some of us think it was gear, and for one of us, it was(and we're working on fixing a stamina defecit). However, overall, I think our problem was cruise control.

Up until that point, we were playing the game on cruise control, overpulling, screwing around, not worrying about body pulls, and we did it fairly successfully. Then, we hit that boss, and we just didn't have our heads in the game, and we finally got to a point where it was not acceptable. And it's a damned good thing.

It may seem a funny thing to say, but in a very major way, it was. You see, there were/are some issues within the group that needed to be addressed. Personally, I left them unaddressed because I was worried about offending people, and it hadn't become an issue yet. Now? It's starting to become an issue, one that's causing wipes, and undue stress. So I'm starting to address it.

For example, last night me and Sharon hit Shattered Halls(hate!) with the Shammy(enhancement), a resto druid from the guild, and a pugged mage(pugs don't have specs). I was watching Omen the first couple pulls, as well as target of target, and noticed that the Shammy was consistently out-aggroing me with his crazy crits and balls to the wall dps. This was nothing new, he was a solid 30-50% of my taunts. And that's when it occurred to me. How could he possibly know he was doing something wrong if I never said anything?

So, I mentioned it. "Hey, do me a favor? Watch Omen, and when you're creeping up on me on threat, I need you to dial it back a notch." Turns out, he had his threat warnings disabled. He turned them back on, and other than some pulls that went completely tits up, things were much smoother, me-holding-aggro-over-the-enhancement-shammy-wise.

And I'm sure I have things that I'm doing wrong that I need to be corrected on. Hopefully, we can get this stuff out, all learn what it is we're doing that we shouldn't, and collectively get better at working together.

Christmas Countdown deals 1,000 stress damage to you.
Your Credit Card dealt 600 shopping damage to Christmas.
You have slain Christmas!

So, Christmas shopping is done, and we've got a tree(it's fake, which kills me, but it'll be better for Sharon who's allergic to the real thing, and beggars can't be choosers). Her son should be having a pretty awesome Christmas. Wii, sled, a few Wii games, Simpsons movie, Battlescape board game, iTunes giftcard, and some assorted sundries. Couldn't really afford to get much for ourselves aside from a new TV stand, but I'm of the opinion that it's more important that his Christmas be great.

So, on the WoW front, I hit BFD last night with a pug. I had forgotten why I hate pugs. But I remember now! Who the hell has loot drama at level 26? Seriously. It vendors for, like, 30 silver. Just chill. Also, there was an awesome exchange of two of the people in the group calling each other gay. Because of loot drama. I'm fairly sure none of them was old enough to buy smokes, nevermind drink. Goddamned blood elves, bringing the kiddies to the horde. ;P

On the positive side, I'm almost level 26 myself. That run got me just about a full level, plus I still have a quest to turn in that should ding me up to 26, and put me a little closer to Sharon's level(28). I'm looking forward to doing Gnomer in the next couple days, and then the awesomeness with a side of awesomesauce that is Scarlet Monastery. I can't wait. More good news to report next time, I hope.